If you want to send out a personalized mass email, much like most companies' marketing emails, creating a mail merge is the easiest way. Unlike the antiquated mail merges of days past, you can do it in Gmail with half the headache.

A mail merge is when a template is merged with a database of information, such as a list of names or other unique details. It's useful for sending out personalized emails to multiple people quickly. Technology blog Digital Inspiration offers up a Gmail tip to get this done, using Gmail with Google Docs. First, create a contact group within Gmail that you want to send the email blast to. Using Google Docs, then create a copy of this spreadsheet in your account.

Go to the Mail Merge tab at the top, near Help. Click on "Import Gmail Contacts" and authorize Google Docs to access your Google Contacts. Go to the Mail Merge tab again, click the "Import Gmail Contacts" again and type the name of the Gmail group that you created earlier.

You can edit all the fields in green to your liking. After you're satisfied, go to the Mail Merge tab one more time, and hit "Start Mail Merge." Google Docs will now send out your email, and keep track of the status of each. Handy!